Back in Kathmandu and we couldn’t justify the luxury of the International Guest House. Instead we opted for the pleasant Pilgrims Guest House. The Holi festival proved to be something of a disappointment. Instead of merry-making the young males of Kathmandu seemed to use the festival as an excuse for lawlessness. In particular western women [...]
A change of style for the third of our series. Instead of a quiz question we’ve chosen a caption competition. This friendly sadhu entertained us for a while on the banks of the Tungabhadra river amongst the stunning landscape created by the ruins of Vijayanagara. After showing us around some of the temples, for a [...]
With around 16 hours of the day with no electrical supply I had no option but to have my haircut by scissors for the first time in nearly twenty years. The highlight was definitely the shave. I had been wanting a pukka shave for the entirety of our trip and afterwards I was left wandering [...]
After much deliberation we decided on a trek from Nayapul to Ghorepani then across to Ghandruk and back to Phendi and Pokhara via Landruk and Dhampus. Our start was delayed by a bout of sickness suffered by Mam but we were soon on our way to Nayapul one hour away from Pokhara by taxi. From [...]
From Varanassi the road to Kathmandu leads north to the city of Gorakhpur then on to the border at Sonauli. From there it’s the simple matter of a seven to ten hour bus ride to the Nepali capital of Kathmandu. We began our journey with a six hour train ride from Varnassi to Gorakhpur. We [...]
It’s hard to know where to begin when describing Varanassi. The place was a bit of a shock for us even after nearly two months in India. The narrow lanes of the old town heaved with vendors, tourists, pilgrims and animals. From our balcony we were able to witness the chaos: monkeys swinging and scurrying [...]
On arriving in Orchha (by musical auto) we immediately bumped into our friends from the Mumbai to Hospet train, Paawan and Sushma. They invited us to join them rafting down the Betwa river that evening. The sight of the riverside tombs as the sunset was truly memorable. The next day we took in Orchha’s sights [...]
A highlight, for me, of our visit to Mumbai was a walk around the Oval Maidan. Never have I seen such a number of cricket matches in one place. The games were packed so closely together that a bowler in one game had to be careful not to bump into the wicket-keeper in the adjacent [...]
…in South India. The breakfast options are excellent and lunch is a daily, potentially never ending, feast. If, after all that, you’re still feeling peckish there’s an enormous selection of freshly cooked snacks and sweets to have with your evening chai. The lunch time ‘meals’ have been something of a revelation for me. The best [...]
We have visited numerous ancient ruins on our trip but never has the landscape combined with the architecture to create such incredible scenery as in Hampi. The giant boulders and tumbled-down temples and palaces were at their most evocative in the warm light of sunrise and sunset. We enjoyed a relaxing few days cycling through [...]
